HTTP v/s HTTPS: About and Difference

As we all know, for every page on the web, there exists a unique Web page link. and the complete web address of any web page always starts with "http" or "https". Well everyone observes this. But nobody, or at least most of us don't bother to know what they both are, and what actually the difference between them is. As a Techie, you need to know this. I'm going to explain the same here today.

In brief, the "https" is more secure than the 'http' and for the same reason, any website with in-web payment options, are maintained with 'https'. All the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter use 'https' for the security means. There are many difference between 'http' and 'https'. Lets have a look at them.

What is 'HTTP' and How does it work?

• Stands for 'Hyper Text transfer protocol'.
• Founder and Developer-Tim Berners-Lee.
• Its the foundation for the data communication in the internet.
• It is a structured text that contains some logical links between other nodes of the world wide web.
• If the client (you) sends a 'request message' to a server which hosts HTML content, the server replies to client with the response message that may contain the requested HTML content. The response message is a confirmation that the server has successfully received the Request message. It is as simple as it seems to be.
• You can simply assume that http is a rule book which both client and the server must follow in order to transmit data in the world wide web.
• The request sent by you will get a Status code/Error code based on your request. There are several status codes like 200,404,451 etc. (you might have seen "Error, 404 not found" many a times I presume.)
• Here are some error codes of importance:

1. 200-OK : Success!
2. 400-Bad request: The request was invalid or cannot be otherwise served.
3. 401-Unauthorized: Authentication credentials were missing or incorrect.
4. 403-Forbidden: The request is understood, but it has been refused or access is not allowed.
5. 404-Not found : The URI requested or the resource requested is invalid, such as a user/given link, does not exist.
6. 410-Gone: This resource is gone.

and many more. find them Here.

• HTTP uses the reliable TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) Port 80 to send and receive data packets over the network for Internet applications.
• Latest version of HTTP currently (as of 16th june 2016) is HTTP/2.

What is 'HTTPS' and how does it work?

• Stands for  'Hyper Text transfer protocol secure'.
• Development began in 1993 by Netscape Communications.
• Implemented with SSL (Secure Socket Layer), the HTTPS protocol was later upgraded to use SSL’s newer transformation TLS (Transport Layer Security).
• It also uses TCP to send/receive the data packets but uses a different Port 443 in order to do so. (remember 'http' uses port 80 to do the same.)
• The ‘S’ stands for secure in HTTPS.

Now the question is, "What makes it secure?".

and the answer is a website which uses HTTPS protocol establishes an encrypted connection with your device. By the word 'encrypted', it means The data is not sent and received exactly as it is. The data is converted into some code format which doesn't actually mean anything until it is decrypted. and decryption can be done only by who has the 'Encryption key', which is none other than the server and the client. No one in between can decrypt it. Now its sure that it is secured isn't it?. Learn more about 'Encryption' here.

The actual process of https is as follows,

The data to be transmitted is encrypted using a Public Key that is then utilized by the recipient to decipher it. the general public key is created by a server administrator or a user, that is enclosed in a digital certificate referred to as SSL Certificate and is signed by certification authorities like VeriSign. Any act that involves sharing of the public key to unknown devices should be prohibited, because it could compromise the extent of encryption, ultimately resulting in disclosure of personal data or user credentials.

Most modern web browsers now feature inbuilt support for HTTPS protocol. A web browser integrated with HTTPS protocol requires SSL Certificate signed by certification authorities in order to authenticate a server or a website. You might have seen a green colored icon placed before HTTPS in the web browser's address bar. If you click it, the certification authority information of the website will be shown to you.

Also read: List of Top 10 Cheap SSL Certificate Providers 2018

Now the difference between both,  

Basically, HTTPS is just an HTTP connection in addition to have wrapped in SSL/TLS encryption layer which is done to protect the privacy of the data being transferred and to assure that it won’t fall into wrong hands during the transfer. Its main aim is to check the authenticity of the website being viewed. An unsecured connection like a public WiFi network might result in man-in-the-middle attacks and eavesdropping.

HTTPS can be told as an advanced modification to HTTP packed with more security.

HTTP uses Port number 80. while HTTPS uses Port number 443 by default.
The sole intention of HTTP is to display the information on the client device without bothering about how the data gets transmitted between two devices and also it doesn't bother about the stealing of data in the middle. But for HTTPS, the advantage is, it binds an extra layer of security by using SSL/TLS which is also utilized by VPNs to encrypt data, thus protecting from eavesdroppers and getting hacked.

Author : Anonymous

He is a simple passionate tech freak who himself is an engineering student at Canara Engineering college. He likes App Development, Web designing, Blogging, Youtubing, Debugging and also is a CodeGeek!

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